After a very promising start to the year I seem to have seen far fewer butterflies than I would expect. Butterfly populations can be very localized (a number of species are dependent on single plant varieties), and their numbers vary dramatically year on year depending on a range of weather conditions. I have, however, seen some. These were taken on Friday, out in the poppy field.
Large White Butterfly
I only saw one large white, but there were a number of these much smaller blues. I am always a little cautious about identifying the small blues but I think these are holly blues. 
Holly Blue
The final one in the series is a small skipper. 
Small skipper
Not much from today. No foxes (yet) and apart from some gulls only a distant sparrowhawk to report. 
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
10 Comments
No butterflies here. Only mosquitoes :doh: :insane:
… And they just carried off a Volkswagen Beetle! :yikes:
Erwin, it's beautiful when the sun is out. Unfortunately we've had nothing but rain today 🙁
Darko, mosquitoes are not so good (and much trickier to photograph!).
Originally posted by H82typ:
That would be something to see 😉
Butterflies – well, haven't seen many either, come to mention it. But ticks have been hyperabundant :yuck: I've lost count of the number I've had to remove from the dogs.
Adele, ticks :yuck: I wonder whether the winter has caused the low butterfly numbers this year. They are so erratic in terms of population. Remember the painted ladies of two years ago… millions of them!
Beautiful shots!
Cynthia, thanks! Summer seems a long time ago at the moment.
Always great to see the colors of the moment, lovely photos